The Sonoran Inn
by MrsSpaceCowboy
Summary: Somewhere, just off an Arizona highway in the Sonoran Desert, there's an inn carved into the rocks. The owner and her staff are beautiful and eager to please… until it's time to leave. There's no way out, and beauty is skin deep. This is not a love story. *Complete* Happy Halloween!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, y'all. I hope most of you saw the sneak peek for this story at TLS over the weekend. If not, there are a few things we should get out of the way before we even start. I don't want anyone hitting me with guest reviews claiming I didn't warn them. **

**Warning: This is not a romance. Not even close. There will be non-canon pairings. There will be character death. There will be stuff that might make you uncomfortable. This story isn't for everyone. I'm cool with that. **

**Oh, and Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight. **

* * *

Edward Masen was six years old the summer his mother won a trip to Disneyland at her company picnic. That vacation was his first time in an airplane. His first time leaving Forks, really. At the park, his stomach stirred when a plastic Dumbo lifted him into the air. He closed his eyes, leaned back, and let the air hit his face. When the ride was over, he convinced his mother to wait in line for it again.

Edward wanted to fly.

It was _all_ he ever wanted. So he studied hard in school, joined the ROTC, and spent long afternoons Googling career paths to become a pilot. All the signs and every road pointed to the same destination: Lackland Air Force Base.

Texas, of all places.

It was an easy decision, signing his life over to the good old US of A. He would be rewarded tenfold. He breezed through his ASVAB, graduated second in his class, and spent hours in weight training, honing his body to perfection.

And that's what got him in the end.

Tanya Denali was supposed to be high-school entertainment, a distraction. It started that way, anyway, under the bleachers after the homecoming game his sophomore year. Her cheerleading skirt tickled the backs of her thighs in a way that drove him mad.

Falling in love wasn't supposed to be in the cards, but somewhere, in those moments of post-coital bliss and whispers in the dark, they heard each other and clicked. She didn't mind the idea of sharing him with the sky, and she was the one he wanted to fly home to.

In a perfect world, they could've taken their time.

In the real one, they had too much to drink on prom night and ended up staring at a positive pregnancy test a couple of months later. So, instead of college, Tanya decided to sit out a couple of years while Edward officially joined up.

She cried a little when he left a month early for boot camp with his best friend, Jasper, in a beat-up old Jeep on a cool, rainy afternoon. He cried a little, too, between Forks and Seattle. Jasper was the kind of friend to stare straight ahead and focus on the road ahead until Edward was ready to engage.

They spent a few days in Portland, then wasted one in Bend. The California state line was a welcome sight. They peeled the canvas top of the Jeep back and slid dark aviator sunglasses onto their faces. Both boys had let their hair go since the holidays, since they knew high-and-tights were in their futures. They stopped shaving and hit every mom-and-pop beach bar along the coast. At least, that's how the first week felt.

They rented surfboards in Santa Cruz and caught waves bigger than any they'd ever seen at La Push or Westport. Edward's pasty skin bronzed as the days passed, and his dark hair lightened under the sun. Girls in bikinis and moms in swim dresses approached the boys if they stayed on the sand too long, so they spent as much time as possible in the water.

And at night, Edward would take his phone and walk out to the patio chairs next to the hotel pool and call his girl to say goodnight. Once or twice, he had to soothe her through ugly bouts of vomiting and longed for the second trimester to hurry. They'd been told she might feel better then.

Edward was counting on it, because he wanted her there when he graduated from boot camp. He wanted to take her to a hotel that night, bend her over every piece of furniture in the room, and then fall asleep with his ear against her belly.

He tilted his head back and listened to the waves licking at the beach, inhaled deep briny gulps of air, and stared at the stars as he listened to her talk about her days—the dirty looks, the judgmental stares.

"Fuck those people," he told her. "We're going places, you and me. Eventually, I'll be able to request where we live. We'll have beach babies and forget rainy Forks ever existed."

"Sounds good to me," Tanya replied. Then she dropped the phone to throw up again.

The guys pulled out of Santa Cruz early the next day and hit every beach they could until they woke up days later, shortly after noon in San Diego, with eleven days left until show time.

"I've got an aunt in Tucson," Jasper said. "Ever been to Arizona?"

Edward shook his head. They tossed their duffel bags into the backseat and hit the road instead of the waves. The sun began to sink as they sped through Yuma, kicking up dust and pointing at odd, phallic-shaped cacti and gorgeous tile-roofed cottages in every size and color. The dummy light kicked on a few miles outside of Gila Bend, so Jasper eased the Jeep off the highway at the first Love's Travel Stop along the way.

The sky was golden pink in every direction when Edward's feet hit the concrete next to the gas pump. He reached for it and stretched on his toes. Then he twisted his neck back and forth and grinned.

A tiny brunette in tinier denim shorts peeked around the pump and eyed him head to toe. Edward smirked and nodded. "What's up?"

Her red lips curved into a wide grin, and she lifted her sunglasses to rest on top of her head. "Hi."

Edward swiped his card and waited a few moments before keying in his PIN. He lifted the nozzle and hit the button for regular unleaded. Then he waved at the cutie and followed Jasper inside to take a piss and maybe grab a candy bar.

A pleasant floral and berry scent hit him in the candy aisle a moment before a soft voice greeted him. "Where you headed?" the brunette asked after reaching for a bag of Sour Gummies.

"The clouds," Edward replied. His eyes dropped to the edge of her calf and back up to her creamy thigh. He plucked a Snickers from the display and turned on his heel, willing his dick to cut him some slack.

She followed him through the store and over to the short line at the register. "I'm Isabella," she said.

He glanced back. "Edward."

Jasper saved him by cutting between them with his arms loaded with candy and sodas. "It's going to be a long night, and some guy in the shitter said the next gas station is on the other side of the desert." He noticed Isabella and lost his train of thought at the sight of her cleavage against the orange tank top that clung to her slim waist.

Edward shoulder-checked his friend to turn him around so they could pay and hit the road. His head cleared the second he breathed in fresh air. The harsh smell of gasoline greeted him back at the pump. There was a small puddle next to the back tire.

A tall guy in swim trunks and Chacos popped his head around the tank. "The auto-shut off failed," he said with a shrug. "Sorry I couldn't stop it sooner."

Edward groaned when he saw the charges but reached out to shake the stranger's hand. "Thanks, man."

"Any time."

Isabella's perfume danced on the breeze. "Let's go, Felix," she said, folding her tiny frame around her companion's thick side. "I want to get back before dark." Felix nodded and checked the ties on a tarp covering the back of their rusty old pickup truck. Isabella turned to Edward and smiled. "Be careful out there," she said. "The desert can get a little weird after dark."

Edward exhaled and laughed it off. "It was nice meeting you, Isabella."

She backed away and held his gaze as she made her way to the passenger side of the truck. A flash of red reflected in her eyes from the truck before she lowered her sunglasses to shield them from the setting rays. The engine rumbled to life, and Felix waved before pulling away and kicking up a trail of pebbles and dust in his wake.

Jasper started the Jeep and tapped the dash. "Let's go," he said.

The sun set not long after they entered the desert, and they had to pull over to dig jackets from their bags. Edward dozed in and out of sleep despite Jasper's constant fiddling with the radio. There was no signal on his phone, and not a clear station could be found. Eventually, he found a classic rock station and let Pink Floyd fill the night air.

The "check engine" light popped on, so Jasper thumped the symbol a few times and said a quiet prayer under his breath. "Just get us to Tucson," he whispered.

Five minutes later, the Jeep lurched, and a horrible grinding woke Edward as Jasper eased them onto the shoulder and off the highway. Smoke poured from under the hood on both sides. Jasper and Edward both unbuckled and made their way to the front of the Jeep.

Edward pulled his phone from his pocket and cursed at the "no service" symbol at the top of the screen. "Motherfucker."

Jasper shook his head and looked down at his own phone. "I've got nothing," he said.

"It's a long walk back." Edward pointed in the direction they'd already travelled.

"Maybe there's something ahead." Jasper tipped his head forward.

The flipped a quarter, and Jasper won with heads. They grabbed their duffle bags and set out on foot toward the dark rock formations in the distance.

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**A/N- The goal is to end this puppy on Halloween, so I'll see you again later today with another chapter. Maybe even 2. **

**Thanks for reading. I *heart* y'all. **


	2. Chapter 2

They walked for hours. At least, that's what it felt like.

The duffels grew heavier by the minute. They held their phones out in front of them, hoping for bars that never appeared. The night breeze forced them to add another layer of clothing, and Edward began to wish they'd opted for bottles of water back at the Love's station instead of sugary sodas.

The glow of headlights washed the road between them, and they turned to wave their arms in the air. A sleek red Mustang passed them and eased over to wait for them to catch up. The guys jogged the few feet, and both approached the driver's side of the car.

The window lowered, and a beautiful blonde looked up from behind the steering wheel. "Your Jeep we passed?" she asked.

Jasper nodded. "Mine."

"Where are you headed?" a male voice asked from the passenger seat. He was hidden from view, but his hand spanned the whole of the woman's thigh and wrapped around it protectively.

"We just need to make a call," Jasper said. "We've got zero bars to call for a tow."

"Our hotel should be a few miles from the next exit," the blonde woman said. "I'm sure they'll have a phone."

"Thanks," Edward said. "Thank you so much."

Her face split into a mesmerizing smile. "Get in."

Edward breathed a sigh of relief and walked around the back of the car. The passenger door swung open, and a giant foot hit the asphalt a second before a giant man followed. A crown of dark curls spilled over the edge of a neon yellow visor.

He held out a hand for Edward's bag and took it from him. Jasper had already wedged himself into the tiny backseat by the time Edward pushed the passenger seat forward and squeezed behind it to join him.

The door of the trunk slammed closed at the same moment Edward's back hit the leather seat. There was a thump against his shoulder, but the clicking of the door locks drew his attention forward.

"I'm Rosalie," the woman said, pulling out onto the highway and eyeing them in the rearview mirror. "And this is my boyfriend, Emmett."

"Edward."

"Jasper."

Emmett nodded and stared out at the shadows of the desert flying by them. "What's happened with your Jeep?" he asked.

"Not sure," Jasper said. "It just had a tune-up before we left Forks."

"Forks?" Rosalie said. "Where the hell is that?"

"The rainiest place in the country," Edward answered. "Washington."

"Oh."

"Where are you from?" Jasper asked.

Emmett and Rosalie gave each other a quick glance. He answered first. "Knoxville."

"New York," she sighed.

"Vacation?" Edward asked.

"Something like that," Emmett murmured.

A mile marker flashed by, and the conversation faded.

"There you are," Rosalie said a few minutes later. She slowed the car and eased onto an exit ramp. A long, dark road stretched before them.

Jasper and Edward glanced at each other and then out into the nothingness in every direction.

"That's got to be it," Emmett said. He pointed to a soft glow in the distance.

A pale-yellow mansion with tiled roofs and terra cotta walls sat nestled at the base of a canyon that stretched, dark and looming, for miles. A small neon sign reading Sonoran Inn lit the small parking lot at the side.

Rosalie pulled in and parked next to a silver Dodge Ram pickup truck.

"This doesn't look so bad," she said to Emmett.

He nodded and left to empty the trunk while the others climbed out of the car. Edward and Jasper's duffel bags were placed neatly on the sidewalk leading up to the large wooden front door. Emmett led the way and opened the door for the others.

The floors were smooth stone, and the walls of the entry hall were painted burnt orange and sage. Rosalie looked around and smiled as a man with shoulder-length dreadlocks approached.

"Reservations?" he asked with a smile.

She nodded and pointed to Emmett. "For us, yes. Our friends…" She paused to thumb over her shoulder. "…had some car trouble. Are there vacancies?"

"Oh, yes. We have room. My name is Laurent. I'm a concierge… of sorts. Anything you need. Anything at all."

"Can we borrow a phone? Or your Wi-Fi password?"

He laughed. "There is no Wi-Fi, but we do have a phone. Follow me." He pointed to their bags. "You can leave those here. I'll have them taken to your rooms." He glanced between him. "Or is it one room?"

"We have girlfriends," Jasper blurted. "But one room is fine."

"There's only one garage within fifty miles, but it's closed this time of night. Do you remember the closest mile marker?"

Jasper nodded and watched Laurent open the door to a small office. He lifted the receiver of an ancient rotary dial phone and handed the receiver to Jasper. Laurent dialed, and a few minutes later, Jasper was leaving a message with his tag number and a promise to meet the Jeep at the shop the next day, if they could go and pick it up.

"A cold beer?" Jasper asked hopefully after hanging up.

"Of course," Laurent answered. "Follow me."

He led them back the way they'd came, and the hum of voices carried from a room at the end of the hall. There was a full bar and a parlor-style sitting area with retro velvet couches and a fireplace carved into the wall.

Laurent walked them to the bar and called over the bartender. "This is James," he said. "Your room keys will be waiting with him when you're ready to retire. Until then, enjoy." He clapped Edward's shoulder on his way by.

Jasper pulled $20 from his wallet and pushed it across the bar. "Two of whatever you have on tap."

James smiled. "Sure thing."

Edward and Jasper spotted Rosalie and Emmett across the room, talking to another couple who had their backs to the bar. Edward didn't need to see her face to recognize those short cutoffs and creamy thighs.

It was Isabella and Felix.

Edward shifted and turned to face the bar. It was better than staring at the space where Isabella's dark, wavy hair stopped and her firm ass began. He lifted the mug of beer to his lips and took a long pull.

Her perfume assaulted him before he could set the glass down.

"Well, hello again," she said. She glanced at Edward and waved to James. "Sangria, Jamie." A wine glass the size of a small bowl appeared a moment later, and Isabella took it from James with a smile. "_Gracias, mascota_."

James bowed slightly and returned her smile.

"What are you doing here?" Edward asked. Her eyes narrowed at his tone, so he continued. "Business or pleasure?"

He regretted his word choice immediately.

He regretted it even more when Isabella lifted her glass to her pouty, red lips and took a slow sip of the deep red liquid before she answered. "Both." She glanced around the room and then settled her gaze on Edward. "It's mine," she said.

"What is?" he asked.

"This room, the inn, the stool you're sitting on, and the beer mug in your hand." Her smug smile deepened with each word. "All of it."


	3. Chapter 3

Edward lifted his beer to his mouth and finished it. "You're, maybe, seventeen."

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and answered in a deliberately cool voice. "I'm nineteen," she said. "And I share it with my sister, Maria. She's twenty-two. Is that old enough to co-own a business, in your opinion? It's not like we got to choose this life."

"I'm sorry," Edward said. "I didn't mean it like that. It's a lot of responsibility. That's all." He wanted to ask about their parents but thought better of it. Her frown was telling enough. "I'm eighteen and have never worked a day in my life. What do I know?"

James placed two wine glasses and a tall unmarked bottle on the bar in front of Isabella. She smiled and poured the darkest red Edward had ever seen into both glasses. She swiped the excess from the lip of the bottle with her thumb and then licked it clean.

Edward looked away. Jasper was on one of the sofas with a beer in one hand and a lovely raven-haired girl reading his other palm. When he turned back to Isabella, she was holding both glasses in the air. She pushed one into his hand. "A toast, then, to responsibility." Edward coughed and thought of his pregnant girlfriend back home. He lifted the glass and inhaled a familiar floral berry scent before the sweetness hit his tongue.

A warm tingle spread through his body and eased the worry instantly. He looked down at the thick liquid in his goblet, and his mouth watered. So he drank again. And again.

Isabella watched and sipped from her glass in much slower increments. "Where are you headed?" she asked, repeating the question she'd asked him hours before.

"Texas," he said without missing a beat. "Boot camp."

"Ah." She nodded. "The Air Force. How noble of you."

He shook his head. "I'm not noble. I knocked up my girlfriend, and now she's turning down scholarships to college so she can take care of our kid. There's nothing noble about me."

The deep red wine reflected in Isabella's gaze. "What's her name?"

"Tanya."

Isabella nodded. "And the baby?"

"Oh, it's not born yet. We don't even know what it is."

"I see." She refilled his glass and waited for him to continue. He didn't.

The wine had loosened his tongue. "Where are your parents?" he asked.

"Dead." She shrugged. "They died when I was younger."

"I'm sorry."

He drained his second glass and sat staring into space. The lights in the room dimmed, and the conversations eventually blended into music. Something grazed Edward's thigh but was gone by the time he looked down. Everything around him slowed and quieted. He looked up and watched Jasper clutch his neck and something red coating his fingers and dripping onto the girl stretched across his lap. Jasper's mouth moved, but Isabella's soft whisper was all Edward could hear.

She pulled his hand, and he followed her down a long dark hallway into a chamber of sorts. There were sleek gray walls made of rock in every direction. A small fire burned in a corner fireplace/pit combination. Isabella led him to a pile of blankets in the center of the room. He stumbled against her body when she stopped short, and she moved her ass against the bulge in his jeans.

His eyes closed, and he counted to ten to try to ground himself and figure out what the fuck was happening. But she was naked when he opened his eyes—naked with her hand between her legs, casually sliding her fingers over soft pink flesh.

"Oh, God." He pulled his shirt over his head and got frustrated when he couldn't remove his pants or handle the button in the haze of booze and sweet-flowered skin.

Isabella reached forward and pulled them away from his body. His mouth opened in surprise then closed on a moan when she dropped to her knees and swallowed his cock without warning. She licked and sucked him, but he moaned the hardest when she eased her wet fingers up and behind his balls. She pressed, and he froze when the tip of her finger pushed into him.

She moved it slowly at first and gave him a chance to protest. Instead, he began to fuck her mouth in earnest, using both hands twisted in her hair to pleasure himself. He didn't think to warn her before he came, but she was ready and swallowed it all.

He dropped to his knees and panted in deep gulps of air. "This isn't…" He struggled and shook his head. "Jasper's neck…"

"Shhh…" Isabella whispered. She raised onto her knees and pressed her wrist to Edward's lips. The wine slipped over his tongue again, clouding his thoughts until the only thing left was to feel.

Isabella pushed him back onto the silky throws and climbed on top of him. He sucked the rose-tinted Sangria from her wrist and kissed it from the tips of her fingers. She lowered her body and eased his cock inside her. He moaned and sucked harder.

She shifted, back and forth, then lifted and lowered. She watched him drink between narrowed eyes and took what she wanted in return. She fucked him hard and then got on her knees and let him work through the high by taking it out on her willing body, the fire in the corner eventually fading into a small pile of embers.

He stilled when he came inside her and buried his face in her hair to avoid looking at her. She turned her face into his neck. "You don't know how long I've waited for you," she said. She licked her lips, pressed one small kiss beneath his ear, and slid her patient fangs into his offered skin.

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**A/N – You might have noticed these aren't exactly Stephenie Meyer's vampires. Cold and concrete never really appealed to me. I'm playing around, instead, with a mix of different favorites. See you soon. **


	4. Chapter 4

Liquid ice cooled the sharp sting that interrupted Edward's bliss. Then a raging fire licked through his veins and charred him from the inside out. It sobered him instantly.

His weren't the only screams tearing through the halls of the Sonoran Inn that night. He begged for death. Isabella sat close by, watching him burn. Awareness brought flashes of skin and memories, and tears ran from his eyes for the last time.

This was hell, for sure.

His heart beat wildly and made it impossible to keep any measure of time. Then it slowed to a crawl, and he listened to it stop. He expected to float out of his skin or see some kind of bright light.

"Am I dead?" his voice echoed off the cavern walls.

"By definition, yes," Isabella said smoothly. "I prefer undead."

"You did this."

She nodded. "I've been waiting for you."

He shook his head. "You've got the wrong guy."

She smiled and let the tips of her fangs touch her bottom lip. "I don't think so."

"I have to go."

She laughed out loud. "Oh, really?"

He put too much effort into sitting up and ended up on his feet next to her in an instant. His mouth dropped open. "What have you done? What's wrong with me?"

"Wrong with you?" she echoed with a laugh. "Nothing, now." She stepped closer and ran her hand across his bare chest.

He caught her wrist. "Please don't." He shook his head. "I love my girlfriend."

Isabella smiled. "That's very sweet, but she's human."

Edward's mouth dropped open. "What…? What did you do to me?"

She stepped closer, and her wine-coated scent hit him square in the chest. Every second of the night he arrived replayed in a loop in his head.

"My, God," he said. "It was you." She nodded and weaved her arms around his waist. "The wine was…"

"My blood."

"What did it do to me?"

"Small amounts will loosen your inhibitions. You, however…" She nipped at his neck and ran her teeth along his skin. "…couldn't get enough."

He felt sick but couldn't throw up.

He'd acted out every thought he'd had about Isabella when he first caught sight of her curves in the fading sunlight. "You drugged me."

"I gave you eternal life."

"Jasper and I have to be at Lackland in a week," he said, looking in every direction for his clothes. "I have to get back to Tanya and our baby." His eyes dropped in frustration. "Where are my fucking clothes?"

"I ripped them," she said. Then she turned her head and said, "Laurent, clothes, please."

A moment later, there was a tap on the door. Edward saw jeans and a faded t-shirt folded in someone else's arms before Isabella moved to open the door. Laurent walked in with the exact clothes and held them out as an offering to Edward.

"_Stunning" _Laurent's lips never moved, but Edward heard the compliment as clearly as if it had been spoken aloud.

Edward stumbled backward and wished again he could throw up. None of this made any sense. He dressed with his back to Isabella and could tell by scent alone that Laurent had left them.

"Thank you for the clothes," he said. "I'll pay you for them and however many nights' stays…"

She shook her head. "You don't have to pay me. I'm your sire, and you are my mate. It's my duty to provide for you."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You're not going anywhere, Edward. This is your life now."

He laughed and shook his head. "You're crazy. Where's Jasper?"

Isabella smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "He's with my sister. Maria's quite… fond of him."

"Is he…?"

She nodded once. "Undead."

"Right." He moved around her to get to the door. "Look, I don't know what you gave us. I'm still feeling pretty fucked up, but I'm not enjoying whatever this game is you're playing."

Isabella let him open the door and smiled when he gasped. Where the hotel had been, there was only a giant cave cut into the rock and sand. The bar was real enough, and so were the closed oak doors to other rooms like the one behind him.

"Where's the inn? Where have you taken me?"

"This is the inn. Or there is no inn, really, but you haven't been taken anywhere." Isabella joined him in the cavernous hall. "Zafrina," she said quietly.

A woman appeared in an instant and nodded in greeting. She looked around them, and the hotel dressings Edward remembered flashed before him and then disappeared.

"You saw what Zafrina wanted you to see."

"I…"

Zafrina left without a word, and Isabella waited for Edward to absorb this new truth.

"Is this acid? Or X laced with something?" he asked.

"You seemed more intelligent than this," she said.

"I'm hallucinating, or I'm the undead. Those are my choices."

She shook her head and frowned. "There are no choices. You are undead. Zafrina has the gift of projection. Both of those things are true."

"People will be looking for us. They'll find Jasper's Jeep, and they'll find us."

Isabella smiled. "No one will find Jasper's Jeep. The owner of the shop you called made sure of it. You see, Jake's an old friend. He was expecting your call."

Edward took a step back.

"The same way Rosalie and Emmett knew where to find you."

"No." Edward shook his head and took another step away from Isabella.

She followed. "Your cell phones are gone, too. Their last pings were traced this morning across the country along the Virginia coast. Your debit cards were used at multiple stops in every state along the way. No one will be looking for you anywhere near here anytime soon."

"You can't do this," Edward said. "You can't make us your prisoners."

She smiled. "You can't really leave."

A delicious scent pulled his attention from her, and a moment later, a buttery warmth filled his mouth. He closed his eyes and drank until the source was dry. His eyes opened slowly when it was over, and he cried out at the sight of a broken body in his arms. Cold, lifeless eyes stared up from his lap, but all he could see was a gaping mess of blood and torn flesh.

"And trust me. You don't want them to find you," Isabella said.


	5. Chapter 5

Edward lunged without thinking and landed a few inches shy of where Isabella stood watching him. Rosalie was between them in an instant, with her hands on Edward's chest pushing him away.

"Take a walk, Edward," she said, then nodded at someone behind him. "Em, take him."

"Come on, man," Emmett said, tugging Edward's arm. "This is a lot. I know."

Edward laughed and pulled away. He seemed to be the only one surprised by his strength.

Then Isabella spoke. "Jane."

Pain rippled through Edward, much like the burning he'd just woken from with the added sensation of being stabbed randomly and often. He dropped to his knees and tried to cover his head with his arms to keep it from exploding.

Isabella knelt in front of him and watched. When she thought he'd had enough, she whispered, "Stop." The relief was instant. Edward fell backward and panted out of habit alone, since he no longer needed to breathe. Isabella towered above him on her knees, and her eyes glinted red as she spoke. "Don't test me, Edward. You won't like it."

He swallowed and closed his eyes. "Kill me. Please just kill me. I don't want this."

Her eyes narrowed. "No one ever does," she said. "At first." He stayed there on his back and heard her soft steps as she passed him. "You'll come around… in time."

Emmett was the only one left by the time Edward finally opened his eyes. "She's right," he said. "No one wants this at first." Edward was hit with a vision of Emmett lying in a hill of snow with his own chest slashed and a bear standing over him. Thoughts of Rosalie followed, and Edward had to blink to clear his head.

"My girlfriend's pregnant," Edward said.

"I'm sorry."

"How long will this last?"

"It's not a virus, man. Vampires are forever."

"No." Edward shook his head and looked over at the spot where he'd left the body. It had been removed. "You didn't attack us. You can be around… non-vampires."

Emmett's eyes narrowed. "All newborn vampires have uncontrollable blood lust. It took me a couple of years to control it. I guess that's average."

"Two years…" Edward echoed.

"Give or take a few months, yeah."

"How old are you?"

Emmett smiled and considered his words. "I'm twenty-six, but I was born in 1925, so you tell me."

"Holy shit."

Emmett grinned. "Eternal youth."

"That means I can't see them for years," Edward said, turning away and running a hand through his hair. "I have to let them know I'm not dead."

"That's not possible."

"Tanya will wait for me." Edward nodded. "I know it."

"Technically, you're dead. You can't live with humans. It would expose our kind."

"Then I'll change them."

"You can't change them, Edward." He frowned. "You don't want to do that to a child. It would never grow or develop. Imagine an eternal two-year old with superhuman strength and an uncontrollable thirst for blood. It's against our laws."

"There are vampire laws?"

"Many, and turning a child is an automatic death sentence."

"So we can be killed."

"Yes," Emmett said. "We can."

"And there are vampire, what, police?"

"We police ourselves."

"Why didn't someone stop her, then?" Edward asked.

"Who? Isabella?" At Edward's nod, Emmett laughed. "It isn't against our laws to turn adults. Isabella's sired ninety percent of our coven. Not to mention she's the most powerful vampire on this continent."

"A nineteen-year-old girl is one of the most powerful vampires in the world?"

"She was born in 1844 and changed during the height of the Civil War, but her age has nothing to do with it." Emmett sighed. "She's a _gifted _leader."

"Is she your sire?" Edward asked.

"No, Rosalie's my sire and my mate."

"And what is she to Isabella?"

"Personal guard, friend, and cousin by blood."

"Before they were vampires?"

Emmett nodded. "Let's go check on your friend," he said. "Maria should be done with him by now."

"What does that mean?"

Edward found out a few minutes later when Jasper's voice sounded in his head and a vision of Isabella's sister's naked back swam in and out of his vision. "She's not," Edward said.

"What?" Emmett asked.

"Nothing." Edward knew something was wrong inside him. Some sort of glitch was allowing him glimpses of things he shouldn't be seeing. Or hearing. Or whatever the hell was happening. He had not forgiven or forgotten Emmett's role in his situation, even if he did understand it a little better now. So he kept his mouth shut and pretended to be surprised when the audible sounds of moans and cursing filled the air.

"I guess I was wrong," Emmett said.

"Am I allowed to leave this cave?" Edward asked when a confusing wave of lust hit him from out of nowhere. "This is a little much."

"Of course." Emmett smiled. "You'll have to in order to hunt."

Edward swallowed. "I…"

"You'll get used to it."

He hoped not but kept it to himself as he followed Emmett through a winding tunnel. At the end, Emmett pushed a gigantic boulder to create an opening to the outside world. The sun burned bright orange on the horizon of dessert and rock.

Emmett gave Edward a moment to take it all in with his upgraded senses. Then he slapped him on the back and leaned into a runner's stance. "Let's see what you got. 1… 2… 3!"

They took off in a sprint, but Edward quickly pulled away, moving so fast that the ground beneath him and everything around him blurred.

It was like flying.

And he stopped dead in his tracks when he realized it was the closest he'd ever get in this new life he'd been forced into.

* * *

**A/N – Thanks to M for prereading this. **

**And, Y'ALL. Iris is cleaning this hot mess up. Trust me. She's working hard because 3****rd**** person past tense is not my normal jam. I cannot thank her enough. **

**Thank you for reading. See you tomorrow. **


	6. Chapter 6

Jasper and Maria eventually had to be separated. It was normal for vampire mates to crave each other, but Jasper was born an empath, so they were both receiving double shots of lust from each other. It was days before they came up for air.

And food.

Edward had refused any company or blood. He refused to be a killer.

Jasper found him, crouched in a corner, and instead of greeting each other, both of them clutched their throats at the burn that had consumed them.

Edward smelled the girls before he heard their thoughts outside his room. Their pulses thrummed in the air, and like before, everything else disappeared until his throat was finally coated and the pain eased.

"Dammit." He pushed his victim's body away in disgust.

Jasper looked up from his own meal, and Edward put a hand on his head to try to push away the vision of himself covered in blood from his friend's thoughts.

"Never again," Edward said. "There has to be another way."

Jasper sat quietly and closed his eyes. "Of all the dumb fuckin' luck."

"It wasn't luck. Isabella or Felix did something to the Jeep. She told me that Rosalie and Emmett were sent to get us. It wasn't luck. It was her."

"Shit."

Edward saw images of Jasper's girlfriend, Alice, flit through his friend's mind. Then his own chest ached with Jasper's.

"Sorry," Jasper said.

Edward shook his head to shake it off. He stood an instant later. "Let's go for a walk," he said.

Privacy was next to impossible with dozens of vampires sharing limited space. The pain lessened in the open air, outside the cave.

"Where's the hotel?" Jasper asked.

Edward led him in the same direction he'd taken with Emmett the first time he'd left the cave. "There is no inn," he said. "There never was."

Jasper stopped, dead in his tracks, and looked behind them. "There was a sign and everything," he said.

"None of it was real." Edward shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and kept walking. "There are vampires here with powers. And I don't mean physical strength, because we all have that." He looked around in every direction to make sure they were truly alone. "Zafrina can project visions and change our reality. Someone named Jane tortured me on Isabella's orders without ever physically touching me. Emmett said you're an empath. And by the way, please try to control that shit when you're getting it on with Maria. The two of you have put the whole coven on pins and needles. I've seen…"

This was it. Edward had this moment to decide if he could trust his best friend.

"I think I can read minds," he finally said.

Jasper stared at him, and Edward could feel the contemplation rolling off of him in waves. "What am I thinking right now?"

Edward grinned. Jasper was practically shouting it in his head. "You're going to miss cheeseburgers."

"Holy shit," Jasper said.

"Don't tell anyone, especially Maria."

"I…" Jasper looked away at the stars in the distance. "I don't know what it is about her. I mean, I love Alice, but we can't go home like this. We'd kill everyone we care about."

Edward stood in silence and wondered what Tanya was doing at that moment, if their baby was kicking or somersaulting inside her. "Not yet, but maybe someday."

Jasper shook his head. "I don't see how."

They walked another mile in silence, happy to be away from the thoughts and emotions of the coven they'd been forced into. A pair of bobcats crossed them near a bend in the highway, and Edward took off after them with Jasper at his heels. They raced the animals and took them down with a flourish. The pulse beating in the cat's neck was too much for Edward.

Without pause, he sank his fangs into the soft fur and drank. It wasn't as sweet as the human blood he'd had, but it was guilt-free. He looked up and found Jasper watching him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know, but I can't keep ripping strangers' throats out. That's no way to live."

Jasper looked down at the bobcat struggling in his arms and contemplated his choices. Then he sank his teeth into the neck of the beast and drank.

They carried the bodies to a ravine and stood in silent contemplation.

"We're fast," Jasper said. "What would happen if we just… kept going?"

"I tried," Edward said. "I got to the Texas state line this morning and turned around."

"What?"

"I don't know what happened. It wasn't a real choice."

"You ran to Texas in less than a day?"

"And back." Edward confirmed with a nod.

He could tell Jasper didn't believe him, so he jerked his head away from the road and said, "Run."

They took off like a shot in the dark and kicked up dust and sand in their wake. They passed cacti and mule deer, circled around Phoenix and Sedona, and ended up staring at the Grand Canyon at daybreak. They were running the ledges when that compelling tug to return to the coven pulsed through Edward. Jasper's head jerked up in recognition.

Edward shook his head, threw it back, and then screamed his rage into the rock and trickling river down below them. He decided then and there to end it. He dived headfirst and fell like an anvil through the sky. As the ground approached, he closed his eyes and thought of his baby and what he or she might look like.

He hit the rock floor and cracked the stone into bits before he bounced and ricocheted off the opposite canyon wall. He skidded to a halt in a ball of dust and pebbles and stared up at the haze of dawn in the distance.

It was beautiful.

It was hell.


	7. Chapter 7

Isabella gave Edward a wide berth. Jasper did the same with Maria. He couldn't think clearly when she was near. Being new additions was advantageous. They could ask questions without raising suspicion.

Edward's gift was spotty, at best, so he focused on strengthening it. There were others with gifts in this coven. Jane's twin brother, Alec, could strip away all the physical senses. A cute blonde named Kate had jolted Edward and Jasper with small doses of electricity during introductory handshakes.

James wasn't really a bartender. He and Demetri were the coven's trackers and coolers. They hunted down problems and cleaned up any messes.

And there was something strange about Jane's mate, Chelsea, but Edward couldn't pin down her thoughts long enough to figure it out. He was getting better at matching thoughts to their owner's, but he hadn't quite mastered the ability to be around more than a few other vampires at a time.

The biggest enigma of all was Isabella. He saw her often in the thoughts of other vampires. Her scent clung to the walls and objects. Edward's mouth filled with venom every time it teased his senses.

He refused to dine on the necks of strangers brought in by the coven's scavengers. They would drive a state or two away, collecting lost souls and homeless veterans. The inn's lights welcomed them one and all.

Edward and Jasper disappeared on hunting trips of their own when this happened. Each time, they were able to run a little further and stay gone a little longer. They were able to prowl green forests and satisfy their needs with the blood of deer, wild cats, and other animals. Eventually, they'd feel that tug around their navel, urging them back to their creators.

There were accidents—moments they'd run into humans and give in to the craving. Jasper had the added burden of everyone else's thirst on top of his own. Edward saw them killing in their minds and could almost taste the blood.

Isabella had them brought to her room after a particularly long trip away from the desert. She looked them up and down and inhaled deeply. "Why?" she asked.

"What?" Jasper asked, looking at Edward first and then her.

"Jamie told me about your little habit," she said. The green silk jumper she wore rippled as she walked across the room to stand before them. "Feeding on the blood of animals?" Her face contorted in a mixture of anger and disgust. "You're vampires, for fuck's sake. Act like it."

"What difference does it make?" Edward asked.

It caught her off guard, since he hadn't spoken to her since the day she threatened him. She gave him a smile no colder than the last. "Strength," she said. "A diet of animal blood will never compare. It can affect any abilities you develop."

Jasper pushed a wave of indignation in every direction. Her eyes narrowed.

Edward emptied his mind of all other thoughts and focused on Isabella alone. Even livid, her mind was dead silent.

"We didn't agree to become murderers," Edward said.

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Oh, please. You were on your way to Lackland. You'd already signed your lives away to be killers. At least, this way, you're doing it for your own benefit and not to line the pockets of war-mongering politicians."

"We signed up to be soldiers, not monsters."

Isabella studied him for a moment, and he stared right back, concentrating as hard as he could on her thoughts.

And got nothing.

Her lips parted, and her eyebrows furrowed. Edward knew to back off without the warning vibes Jasper was hitting him with. Isabella reached out and lifted her hand to comb through Edward's windblown hair. He stood still and held his breath.

Her fangs gleamed, and she stepped closer. "There's nothing you can do about that now," she said.


	8. Chapter 8

Time passed differently for vampires. Humans had things to do and reasons to do them. Some started their work weeks on Mondays. Some worshipped on Sundays. Edward remembered that his mother had shopping days on Saturdays. She would get the week's groceries and run whatever errands were necessary on Saturdays. His parents went out to dinner every Friday night, even if it was just the diner. On Sundays, they would sit together at the dining room table and pay bills on his father's MacBook.

Tanya's due date had been a Wednesday in January, but Edward's daughter had been born on the first Saturday in February. Emmett's guilt was weighing on the three of them—Edward, Jasper, and Emmett. It drove him to the edge of the rainy town of Forks and a tiny house tucked into the woods. He hid in the trees until the crying girl from the news interviews got out of a beat up Volvo that had to be at least a decade old.

She leaned into the backseat and pulled out a baby carrier. The baby was hidden under a couple of blankets, but Emmett could hear its breath and heartbeat from a few yards away. The girl's parents arrived shortly after. None of them noticed the prowler at their property line.

The lights in the little house flicked off, one by one, and that's when Emmett popped the lock on their backdoor with his pointer finger and made his way down the hall. The blonde was crying in her sleep, and two doors down, her father was snoring softly.

The baby was bundled too tightly for Emmett to see much more than its face, so he stared at her chubby cheeks, curly brownish hair, and the blister in the center of her puckered top lip. She was the prettiest baby he'd ever seen.

And she'd never know her father because of him.

Emmett thought of little else on the drive back to Arizona. He'd been an accomplice in too many disappearances to count over the century he'd been a vampire—the people he'd lured in for dinner, the ones who'd eventually become part of his coven.

None of it had bothered him. Until Edward.

It was just the way of their world.

Rosalie was waiting for him when he got back to the desert. "Everything okay?" she asked.

He nodded, but she knew he was lying.

Emmett waited until the next time Edward and Jasper were leaving to hunt and asked if he could go with them. Isabella was at one of the tables in the den of the cavern and looked up when she heard the request. Her eyes narrowed as the three walked out together.

Edward felt her stare and pushed back with his mind, trying like always to get anything at all from hers. Nothing. He caught the significant glance between her and Chelsea on his way through the exit.

He pushed the stone into place and paused, unable to step away. The pull to this place and the tiny vampire within coursed through him from head to toe. A moment later, the thread loosened and he was able to follow Jasper and Emmett into the star-painted distance.

They hit the Colorado state line before dawn and found themselves deep in the forest at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Edward had developed a taste for mountain lions, and this area was rife with game. They had their pick of elk and deer, as well, but Emmett was on the hunt for something entirely different.

He found it in the hollowed out trunk of a tree and pulled a hibernating bear from its sleep to bury his teeth in its neck. When he was finished, he tossed the corpse into the nearby river and shrugged. "That wasn't so bad," he said.

A light rain started to fall, and a memory of a small house set in the Washington woods settled in Emmett's mind just long enough for Edward to catch it. Without warning, he snarled and pinned Emmett to the ground.

Jasper sped to his side. "What?" he asked.

"That house," Edward said, using every ounce of his newborn strength to hold Emmett by the throat against the ground. "Tanya's house… What did you do?"

Emmett stopped struggling and stared up at his friend. "How did you…?" Other flashes of Edward's stolen life flashed through his memories.

Tanya, crying in her sleep.

Her parents' low whispers of worry when they retired for the night.

A baby. Edward's baby staring up at Emmett in the dark.

A birth announcement in a small frame above the crib.

"Bree," Edward said. "It's a girl."

"Holy shit," Emmett said.

"Did you hurt them?" Edward's fingers tightened, so Emmett grabbed his forearm in warning.

"No. Get off of me."

"Not until you explain."

"I didn't touch them," Emmett said. He'd figured out Edward's secret and tried to open his thoughts. He replayed leaving Edward's family, safe and sound, there in Washington.

Edward relaxed his grip and stood.

"Why were you there?"

Emmett shook his head. "I wanted to know they were all right."

"None of this is all right." Edward wanted to shout, but seeing his daughter's tiny face had broken something inside him, and the words escaped as a whisper in the cool breeze.

"I know," Emmett said. "I'm sorry."


	9. Chapter 9

"Isabella's a shield. That's why you can't read her mind." Emmett sat in the snow and watched a pack of coyotes sniffing deer carcasses several yards away. It was his third hunting trip with Edward and Jasper, much to Rosalie and Isabella's displeasure. "I wasn't kidding when I said she's powerful. She might even be the most powerful vampire in the world, because the gifts of others don't work on her," Emmett said. He shook his head. "She managed to steal most of the original Volturi Guard almost a century ago."

"The what?" Jasper asked.

"The Volturi is one of the largest and most powerful vampire covens in the world. They've been guardians of our kinds' secrecy for centuries." Emmett looked at Edward. "I told you we have laws. They enforce them, or members of their guard do. It's rare for the triad to dirty their hands."

"Isabella stole from them?" Edward asked.

"Chelsea, Demetri, and Felix were members of the guard. Isabella was a guest of the Volturi for an entire summer in Italy. She took Alec and Jane as personal guards. We came this close…" Emmett paused to hold his finger and thumb close but not touching. "…to a war. But when Chelsea fell in love with Jane and walked away, Aro knew how it would end."

"What do you mean?" Edward leaned forward unintentionally. He'd always known there was _something _about Chelsea.

Emmett pressed his lips together but only hesitated a moment in the end. "Chelsea is the glue," he said. "She's the one who ties everyone to Isabella and Maria."

"I don't understand," Jasper said.

"I think I do." Edward stood and walked to the edge of the snow-covered meadow. "The pull when we've been away too long or we've wandered too far? That invisible tug is Chelsea."

Emmett nodded. "Not for me. It's always been Rosalie for me. But the others, yes. It's why no one leaves. It's why the Volturi backed down. They knew Chelsea could manipulate the emotional connections and take the entire guard with them if Isabella instructed her to. And there was no way for them to fight back. Isabella's shield protected her from every type of ability they could throw at her."

"Why me?" Edward asked. "She's maybe the most powerful fucking being in the world, and she picked me to be her mate."

Emmett shrugged. "Sometimes it's a scent or a look. Vampires have weird mating habits. There's no rush, you know? No reason to settle. I mean, don't get me wrong. Isabella's had plenty of lovers. James has been head over heels for her since the day she turned him. She's never claimed a mate before."

"What about me?" Edward asked. "Do I get any say in this?"

"Edward." Emmett shook his head. "You can't go back."

"I know." Edward turned away and stared at the moon in the distance, but he'd never stop trying to find a way.

Emmett was right, after all.

Edward had all the time in the world. He'd wait forever to be with his family, if he had to. Once Bree reached adulthood, he'd change them both. But only if they wanted this life. He wouldn't trick them or drug them. If they refused, he'd watch over them for the rest of their natural lives and then find a way to end his eternal one.

Jasper and Emmett stood too, and without a word, the three of them shot into the night, racing through the snow and over mountains until they hit browned grass. Eventually, their sandy kingdom shone in the distance, and the hook in Edward's middle eased with every step.

They slowed to a walk and took their time crossing the desert.

Edward groaned at the familiar blinking red sign and parking lot mirage. It was a feeding night. His mouth filled with venom, and his eyes closes. "Dammit," he said.

"We've hunted," Emmett said, clapping him on the back. "You can do this."

Jasper nodded. "We can do this," he agreed. "If it gets to be too much, we can leave again."

Isabella met them at the entrance and examined each of them head to toe before she allowed them to pass. "Well, well. Where have you been?" she asked.

"Colorado," Jasper said.

Edward cut him off before he could say the word _hunting _aloud. "Snowboarding," Edward said.

She looked between them and narrowed her eyes. Edward swallowed and stared back.

Emmett broke the silence and lied for his new friends without hesitation. "We hit the Arapahoe Basin and Copper Mountain," he said.

Rosalie approached them and slipped her arms around Emmett's waist. "I'm glad you're back," she said. "It's time to hunt." Her teeth gleamed in the fading sun, and she held the keys to the Mustang on her pointer finger in the air.

Emmett glanced at Edward and Jasper before following his mate to the cavern with the coven's assortment of vehicles. Isabella turned her attention back to the Edward. "Well, you're just in time for _dinner_," she said with a smile. "The inn is open for business."

Edward shook his head. "No, thanks."

He and Jasper followed the winding hall to the room they'd claimed and searched for the iPad and speaker they kept tucked away for nights like this one. They secured the door to keep humans from accidently wandering in and as a reminder to themselves to stay put.

The air changed first and became thicker and blood-tinged. Edward and Jasper started a game of poker to try to distract themselves. When the screaming started, Jasper adjusted the volume to drown out the terror. Edward wasn't as lucky.

He gave up on the cards and curled into the corner of the room. There was no way to block out the onslaught of thoughts. He was about to take Jasper up on the offer to leave but slipped into James' mind and the ragged determination there to change the beautiful redhead lying naked in his arms.

Edward focused and watched James slice open his wrist with a fang and hold it to her mouth. She licked and sucked it and somehow kept her balance as she rode the vampire feeding her. Edward hated his cock for stiffening in his pants. Any other day, he'd be jumping to the next set of thoughts to avoid this type of voyeurism. But he had to know.

He had to know how to change them.

Eventually, James sped his thrusts and sat up to sink his fangs into the skin just beneath her ear. Edward rolled onto his stomach and pulled his knees to his chest to fight through the hunger. Jasper kept his distance and reminded Edward to hold his actual breath to ease the sensation.

The girl's heartbeat slowed, and she grew limp in James' arms. Edward was convinced it would stop any moment. James tore his wrist open again and pressed it against the girl's lips. She took long pulls until her pulse was frenzied again, and she fell away from him screaming.


	10. Chapter 10

Bree Denali-Masen celebrated her second birthday on a rainy freezing day in February. She sat on her mother's lap and opened a dozen or so gifts and even clapped her pudgy hands in approval of some. Edward sat with his eyes closed and watched through the minds of his parents and Tanya's. His back rested against the trunk of the tree he was using for cover, and his body shook with need.

All he wanted was to lift little Bree into the air and make her cackle. He wanted to hold his mother and tell her not to cry. And he wanted Tanya. He wanted the life they could've had, the one they'd been robbed of.

He sat in the rain and waited until every guest had gone and his family was sound asleep. He used the key Tanya's parents had always kept hidden under a garden gnome. He stopped at Bree's room first. She was sleeping on her back in a crib, sucking her thump in her sleep. Thick eyelashes rested on her cheeks, and curly bronze hair stuck out in every direction. Edward watched the rise and fall of her tiny chest, mesmerized by his baby girl.

It was soft crying that pulled him away.

He crept down the hall and paused at Tanya's bedroom door to make sure she was sleeping. She whispered his name in the dark and touched his cheek in her dreams. He was at her side in an instant and ghosted his lips across her forehead. He stopped at the door to memorize her scent and stared at her pale face in the moonlight.

A strange noise carried him back to the nursery, and movement from the crib turned his last ounce of willpower to dust. Bree rubbed her eyes and rolled to her side to look at him. She chewed a finger and watched him inch closer. He stopped at the rail and looked down into her face. Her arms flew up, and he obliged, pulling her from the blankets to hold her for the first time. He inhaled and pressed a kiss to her hair. She tucked her head into his neck and closed her eyes.

Edward swayed on the spot until her breath evened out and her thoughts of him and Tanya and her pink birthday balloons faded to nothingness. He eased her down onto her mattress and forced himself to walk away.

He took his time returning to the coven. Chelsea's pull was there, strong as ever, but knowing it was hers and not his helped him manage the discomfort and stay away longer each time he left.

Isabella found him within minutes of his return. Every time. Usually she'd say hello, ask where he'd been, and if the hunting had been good. Her disdain for his diet was on constant display.

Jasper could feel her hostility, but she never let it show.

Something changed when Edward got back from seeing his family. Isabella walked right up to him and stopped when her chest brushed his. "You've been gone for a while." She glanced at Jasper, then Emmett, and returned her gaze to Edward. "It's not like you to hunt alone."

"I needed to clear my head."

She smiled. "I bet."

Edward swallowed and tried not to panic. It wasn't the first time he was sure she knew, but there was no way he'd be the first to crack in their sick dance. He would never confirm it out loud.

He tried to step around her, but she stopped him by taking his arm. "Pack a bag," she said. "We're leaving in an hour."

Edward shook his head. "I just got back," he said.

Her grip tightened. "And we're leaving in an hour, so get what you need."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Vegas. There's a Gaga show tonight. Most of us are going. Jasper's already packed. You got back just in time."

Edward looked around and noticed dozens of his undead siblings were dressed in flashier attire than they normally waltzed around the cave in. "The coven is taking a field trip to go to a Lady Gaga concert," Edward said.

Isabella whipped her sunglasses off her face, and red swirled in the chocolate brown of her eyes. "Yes, we like music. We go to concerts. It's not all killing, all the time. You've been with us for two years. You should know this by now."

"Everyone's going?"

"James is staying with Victoria and the others who can't control their thirst yet. I think Demetri and Kate are staying, too. They're not fans."

"To be honest, neither am I," Edward said. "I'm going to pass, but thank you for the invitation."

He felt her stare on his back until he turned the corner. He halted at his door when Chelsea's hold wrapped around his middle and tugged. Jasper met him at the threshold and pushed a wave of calm to assist his friend.

"You're really going?" Edward asked.

Jasper shrugged. "I want to do something that feels human so I can remember."

But Edward sat alone in his corner for hours after they'd gone, wishing he could forget.


	11. Chapter 11

Edward tried to stay away from Tanya and Bree. He knew visiting them was dangerous. Isabella lurked around every corner and watched him like a hawk. He'd taken the time to learn the laws of his kind, and his visits to Forks broke none. It killed him, but he kept his existence secret from his family and watched them from afar.

Jasper had slipped and returned to human blood after the Vegas trip, so it looked less suspicious when Edward would leave the coven on nights the bright neon lights flashed in the parking lot mirage, luring unsuspecting humans. It was widely known that Edward wanted no part of the feasting or fucking that followed.

More often than not, he'd beat a path back to the Pacific Northwest he couldn't wait to get away from when he'd been human. He hunted game along the way to be sure his thirst was in check before he even hit the Washington state line.

A Honda Edward didn't recognize was parked behind Tanya's Volvo a few days after Bree's third Christmas. And the unmistakable sounds coming from Tanya's bedroom were the only warning before someone else's vision of her naked chest and her teeth tugging her bottom lip filled Edward's head.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

He lifted his fist to his mouth and closed his eyes. Never. He had never _wanted _human blood until now. Animalistic instinct pulsed through him.

A small giggle stopped him in his tracks. Tanya smiled. Not the way she had smiled at Edward, but she looked happy for the first time in years. He wanted to weep. He wanted to murder.

Waiting for them to fall asleep was the longest two hours of Edward's life, dead or undead. Once they did, he slipped inside the Denali house for what would be the last time and ran his fingers through Bree's long, curly hair. He ghosted a kiss across her chubby cheek and whispered all the things he hoped for her in a voice too soft for the baby monitor to register.

He wandered the forests for days. Chelsea's pull was muted, dulled by the desire to turn on his heel and go right back to Forks, but he ended up in Arizona since that was all he had left.

A new vampire passed him in the common area. Isabella's scent clung to him, and she wasn't far behind. She licked her lips and adjusted her hair to make sure Edward got the picture. "Riley," she said. The newborn stopped and turned around. "This is Edward, my mate."

"Oh." Riley looked between Isabella and Edward and thought of all the lurid things he'd just done to someone else's mate.

Edward barked an empty laugh and shook his head. "Good for you," he said.

The smile fell from Isabella's face, and her lips pressed firmly together. She waved Riley away with the flick of her wrist and turned to her mate. "I grow tired of waiting for you."

"Then don't." Edward shrugged and kept walking.

Isabella followed him. "You think I don't know where you go?" she asked. That got Edward's attention, as expected, and stopped him in his tracks. "I know everything."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't matter," he said.

"That's right," Isabella agreed. "It doesn't. They're humans, fragile and temporary. You and I will still be here long after they're gone."

Edward wheeled around to face her, fangs bared. "That doesn't matter, either. I never wanted any of this." He towered over his maker and glared down at her. "I'm not your mate. I never will be."

Isabella met his gaze and narrowed her own. There was a flash of red in her eyes, but she blinked it away in an instant and smiled coldly at him. "Have it your way," she said.

* * *

**A/N - I'm off to celebrate my sweet Dad's birthday with him and my family. I'll post one more chapter tonight when I get home, and we're right on target to finish up tomorrow. I'm cyber-hugging every last one of y'all and singing along with the ones of you who can't get the song "Hotel California" out of your heads now. Welcome to my world. At least for the last week and a half, anyway. ;) **

**Thanks to M for prereading and to Iris for fixing all the things. They're rock stars. For real. **


	12. Chapter 12

Edward had been a nomad on the roads between Phoenix and Forks for most of his undead existence. For the first time, he had no reason to leave the coven. He stayed in the room he still shared with Jasper and listened to music on AirPods to drown out his siblings' thoughts.

The urge to hunt, that thirst for blood, reared its head every now and then, but Edward didn't move. Jasper found him sitting in his favorite corner and stood in front of him until he opened his eyes.

"You've been in here for over a week. Let's hunt," Jasper said. "You're killing me."

Edward shook his head. "Not now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"She met somebody," Edward said.

Jasper frowned. "What?"

"Tanya. She met someone."

"Have you been back to Forks?" Jasper asked.

Edward nodded. "All the time," he whispered.

Jasper slid down the wall and sat next to him. Pity rolled off him in waves before he could try to curb it. "I saw a girl who looked like Alice from behind in Vegas," he said. "I almost killed a couple of people fighting my way through the crowd. I was going to change her on the spot." He huffed a defeated laugh and shook his head. "It wasn't her. I went back to the girl's hotel room with her after the Gaga show, and that's when I slipped." His head tipped forward, and pity shifted to suffocating shame.

"My God. You two are pathetic," Isabella said from the doorway.

Tanya's citrus vanilla scent hit Edward the next instant. He looked over and saw dried blood staining the same white shirt Isabella had been wearing the last time he'd seen her.

Edward sat frozen, terrified of why Isabella might be covered in Tanya's scent. "No," he said.

Isabella smiled as she dropped the shield that had kept her mind under lock and key from him for years.

She let detailed memories flood her thoughts. Memories of sabotaging his parents' gas stove and removing the batteries from their carbon monoxide detector. Memories of sifting through Tanya's father's closet and finding his .45.

She'd walked through the Denali house and fired off a round in the middle of the night. When Tanya's parents had run from their room to check on her and Bree, Isabella shot Mr. Denali first… right in the heart. And before Mrs. Denali could even scream, she had a bullet in her head.

Tanya had locked herself in the nursery with Bree, crying and screaming for Isabella to take anything and everything and just leave without hurting the baby.

Isabella had kicked down the door in reply. Bree had been in Tanya's arms, huddled in a corner, both crying and clinging to each other.

"Put the child in the crib," Isabella had said.

Tanya had stood on shaky legs but kept her arms around Bree. "Why are you doing this?" she'd asked.

Isabella had debated answering, but that would've meant admitting defeat to a weak little human girl and her snotty crying child. She'd grabbed Tanya by the throat and cut off her air until she passed out. Then she'd done the same to Bree.

The next thing Isabella showed him was the Denali house engulfed in flames.

"No!" Edward roared. "You're a liar!"

"I took sweet Tanya to the nearest cliff and drank until her dying breath, and then I tossed her over the side."

"No." He shook his head.

A vision of Tanya's broken body hitting the rock wall on the way down and slamming into the waves below was too detailed to be a lie or projection. It was too real to ignore.

"I've erased you. There's no one left to even remember you. It's like… you never existed."

"No, no, no," Edward said, staggering to his feet. He jerked out of Jasper's grasp, pushed past Isabella on his way out of the suffocating room, and ignored the voices behind him.

He broke into a run and demolished the stone door at the exit. The cool night air hit his face, and he kept going.

Sand flew in every direction under his feet, until the moment he hit pavement. He ran without pause over mountains and bridges and state lines until he came up short at the edge of Forks and fell to his knees in front of what was left of the Denali home.

A concrete slab, soot-covered sections of brick walls, and a charred yard.


	13. Chapter 13

It started to rain. It was Forks, after all. Edward sat, still as stone in the center of the foundation, and let it wash over him. At the break of dawn, he stood and walked around the outskirts of the small town of Forks to the cemetery. There were six unmarked fresh graves together in a section near a stone fountain.

Bree was gone too.

He knew it before he ever left the hell that had become home for him. Isabella had erased him. When she could have just killed him that night in the desert and spared everyone else he'd ever loved. She meant to destroy him.

She succeeded.

And he couldn't even shed a tear for them, because she'd robbed him of that outlet along with everything else. He shook with grief instead.

A car door slammed behind him, but he didn't move. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the mounds of dirt covered with sprays of flowers.

"Holy shit," a trembling voice said from a few feet away.

Edward's eyes closed, and he made up his mind on the spot. "Alice," he said.

"I was right," Alice said in a daze, circling Edward and examining him from head to toe. "I knew you weren't dead."

His mouth filled with venom at the sound of distant, familiar thoughts. Demetri and Alec were close and closing in.

"Do you want to be with Jasper?" Edward asked, closing his hand around her wrist.

"I…" Alice paled. For a moment, Edward thought she would faint, but she recovered enough to nod and whisper. "Yes."

"I'm sorry," he said. He leaned forward and buried his fangs in her neck. He focused on her heartbeat instead of the sweet tang on his tongue. When the thrum went slow, Edward knew from memory it was time to stop. He tore open his wrist and pressed the wound to Alice's lips.

Demetri and Alec stopped short at the sight of them.

Edward exhaled and stared back at them. He'd broken no laws. He had every right to sire a new afterlife after all that had been taken from him. And he would not let Isabella or Maria take the same from Jasper.

Once he was certain the change had begun, he motioned to the other vampires. "We need another form of transportation," he said. "I'm not going back without her."

They looked at each other and then disappeared into the trees. Edward hated to do it, but he lowered Alice into her trunk and slammed it shut in case other humans wandered by. He searched her car and crushed her cell phone in his hand.

The other vampires returned with a black Tahoe. They watched Edward lift Alice from the trunk and carry her to the back doors of the SUV. He lowered the seats and climbed onto the open space to sit next to her writhing body.

"I'll catch up," Alec said, exiting the SUV.

Edward watched him start Alice's car as Demetri pulled away. Then he rested his head against the back window and closed his eyes. He hated himself for the hell Alice's family was about to endure because of him—the moment they'd realize she was gone.

"Who took our phones across the country when we were changed?" Edward asked, on the off chance that Demetri might know.

"James and Laurent," he said. "They like to travel."

"Yet here you are."

"We were told to keep an eye on you. From a distance."

"And you're the best tracker," Edward finished.

Demetri nodded.

Edward opened his eyes and watched the forest pass in a blur. There was no doubt Isabella knew of his ability, not when she'd wielded it so cruelly against him. That would make it harder to kill her, but he was ready to die trying.


	14. Chapter 14

Karma was cruel. The fastest way back to Arizona was the same route Edward and Jasper had taken all those years ago. There were no beaches or bathroom breaks, only Interstate 5 and the sound of tires on asphalt. They were able to shave an hour off the trip, thanks to the built-in radar detector in Edward's head.

Alec caught up with them as the sun broke out across the desert just outside Phoenix the following morning.

Demetri stopped the Tahoe at the main entrance of their canyon dwelling. Edward said Jasper's name as he lifted Alice from the back of the truck. His friend met them in the atrium and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Alice." Jasper blinked and shook his head. Then his eyes flashed red, and he growled. "What have you done?"

"I… They would've killed her," Edward said. "She saw me."

"She's not… dead?"

"Listen." Edward held her body out in offering. "Her heartbeat's still there, barely."

A calm elation spread from Jasper, but Edward tensed and turned.

"What is this?" Isabella asked, pointing to Alice. "The mother of your child isn't even cold in her grave, and you've created a plaything? I guess I don't mind, if you plan to share."

Jasper growled. Edward cleared the room in an instant. He was the fastest of them by far, but Rosalie caught him the moment he reached for Isabella's throat and threw him to the ground.

"Shall I kill him?" she asked, twisting her fingers in Edward's tangled windblown hair to pull back his head enough to expose his neck.

Edward strained and roared on his knees, dragging the guard slowly across the glossy black floor.

Isabella's smile grew wider, and her fangs teased her lower lip. "No," she said. "I want him alive."

"This isn't a life." Edward's voice cracked, and he made it to his feet and another step closer, despite Jasper's attempt to calm him from across the room and that James had joined Rosalie's efforts.

Isabella saved him the trouble and closed the distance between them. "Look around," she hissed, raising both hands at her sides. "I've given you everything: power, speed, immortality… It's all at your fingertips. Your human ties were loose ends I should've handled long ago. I was trying to be kind and give you time. But you're my mate, and it's time for you to accept it."

His laugh rang hollow between them. "You're a monster."

Isabella shrugged and walked toward Emmett who'd been watching from across the room. "How long ago were you in Forks?" she asked him. "I smelled you in the house before I burned it to the ground."

Rosalie's grip loosened slightly. The panic never showed on her face, but Edward knew better. Memories of the fiancé that was turned along with her flashed in her mind. His body in flames at Isabella's feet.

"Years ago," Emmett said. "I was curious."

Isabella stopped in front of him and looked up for a long few moments. Then she looked back at Rosalie. "We'll discuss this later."

"Who's that?" Maria joined the throng of vampires and noticed Alice in Jasper's arms almost immediately.

Jasper looked his sire in the eye. "I love her."

Despite being drenched in the scent of a strange male vampire, Maria shook her head. "Alec… Demetri… Explain."

"A complication," Alec said. "We had to keep our distance, and by the time we realized what was happening, it was too late. There's no way to stop the change once it's started."

Maria hurled herself at him and tossed his severed head into the fireplace before his body hit the floor. Isabella's lips pressed together in annoyance, and her eyes closed.

Jane was frozen in place as her mind went into a tailspin. Isabella was her sire. Alec was her twin, her other half. She stared at Maria and let hatred consume the rest.

"No!" Rosalie kept her grip on Edward and watched in horror as Jane unleashed her wrath without taking a single step.

Maria fell to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain.

"Jane," Isabella said. "That's enough."

But Jane was just getting started. As the numbness of shock wore off, she redoubled her efforts.

Dozens of vampires looked around at each other suspiciously, unsure what to do. Rosalie was yelling for the other members of the guard, but each one met Jane's fury the moment they got too close.

Isabella shook her head in disgust. "Zafrina," she said.

And everything went pitch black in an instant.


	15. Chapter 15

Zafrina created a darkness so thick it was disorienting. No one moved.

Except Isabella whose voice rang out in the darkness. "Enough."

She had no idea that Jane and Maria were ready to kill each other. Edward saw their plans for each other unfold in his head.

Jane screamed. She was blinded and defenseless against her shielded sire.

But Chelsea was of the Volturi. She owed Isabella nothing and loved Jane more than anything. With the flick of her hand, the invisible chain that had held Edward to this place, and to Isabella, fell away in an instant.

Zafrina's illusion disappeared that same moment, and Chelsea was already on the move. Jane fought surprisingly well for a vampire who'd never had to resort to hand-to-hand contact in her undead life. She even managed to land a punch before Maria joined the fight. James forgot all about Edward and rushed to defend his beloved sire.

His mate, Victoria, flanked him. Demetri looked at Alec's body and chose the side he knew wouldn't punish him the same way. His loyalty was to himself for the first time in the centuries he'd known Chelsea, but he still stood with her.

"Chelsea," Isabella said, angling so that her back touched Maria's. The sisters turned inside a circle of vampires. "Stop now and all is forgiven." But Chelsea growled and took a step forward. "Fine." Isabella shook her head and advanced.

Jasper sat Alice in a corner and guarded her when the fighting broke out. Rosalie released Edward and blurred to Isabella's side when Chelsea and Demetri advanced. Jane hit Maria full force while Isabella was distracted and waited for her sire's sister to drop to her knees. She twisted her fingers in Maria's curly, dark hair and dragged her across the room to her brother's body.

Maria was shaking and unable to defend herself. She was looking down at Alec's chest when Jane tore her head from her shoulders.

"No!" Isabella's scream was followed by several vampires being shoved out of her way.

Edward got to Jane first and shielded her with his body as she tossed the severed head into the fire next to her brother's ashes. Patience was Isabella's greatest strength, and she was willing to wait to get to Jane if it meant she could further injure the mate who'd rejected her over and over for humans. She set her sights on Jasper and Alice instead.

She reached for Jasper's throat, but Emmett threw her off balance and knocked her to the ground.

"Fuck." Rosalie elbowed Demetri in the face and kicked him away from her. She took off in a sprint. "_Edward, now._" They locked gazes, and Edward rushed to meet her in the middle. Rosalie pulled Isabella's arms behind her and into the air.

Edward looked down into his sire's fiery red eyes. She wanted to burn him alive at first. She lifted her shield and showed him a fiery gruesome death. Then she envisioned him alive instead, haunting a graveyard in Forks for the rest of eternity.

The smile that spread across her face brought out the killer in him.

He ripped her head from her body with a roar and threw it straight into the flames.

* * *

**A/N - One more to go. **


	16. Chapter 16

Chelsea and Jane were the first to leave. Jane had zapped more than half of the coven in the uprising, and there were whispers about Chelsea. Isabella's trusted guard was telling all. James was unforgiving but unwilling to die for dead masters. He left next, with Victoria in tow. Demetri followed soon after and vowed to return to Volterra and rejoin the Volturi on his own terms.

Rosalie and Emmett were locked in their quarters in a screaming match for days. She had loved her cousins, but she'd loved Emmett more, which was something Isabella had never considered.

Alice woke with Jasper by her side, and Edward had to leave and find new quarters away from the lovebirds. Even joy was painful.

He stopped hunting.

And when Jasper told him a few days later that they were ready to move on from the canyon, Edward decided not to go with them.

Alice broke away from her mate to hug her old friend. Edward saw his fate in her mind when their cheeks brushed.

_A busy Italian courtyard at noon. _

_One last human kill. _

_A dozen vampires in maroon robes._

_Then, finally, sweet nothingness. _

Alice frowned when she pulled away. "If you change your mind," she said. "Look for us near a hospital." Her face scrunched up, and Edward caught a quick glimpse of Alice and Jasper with another vampire couple. In a house. Coexisting. And a doctor's coat hanging from a peg in a kitchen. She shook her head and blinked, unsure where the thought had even come from.

Edward shrugged. They both knew he wouldn't change his mind.

Jasper embraced him next, and the two held onto each other as the sun set behind them on the desert one last time. And when Jasper finally let go, Edward flew.

* * *

**A/N – If you've made this far, thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed it, at least a little. Y'all really are the best. **

**Thanks to M and Iris for all the things, to Lizzie Paige for an AMAZING banner, to the ladies at TLS for Sneak Peeking this, and to y'all for reading. **

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**

**Also...**

**I've written a short story for the "Babies at the Border 2" compilation. It's not scary at all, just pure romance – MrsSpaceCowboy-style. You can get your hands on it and works by dozens of other fandom authors by making a $10 donation to RAICES or the ACLU. Send receipts to babiesatthebordercomp at gmail by November 24th. **

**Here's a peek at "The Funcle" **

**Summary: **As Director of Special Events, Bella Swan eats, sleeps, and breathes Crosstown Concourse. The vertical urban village is home and work and the love of her life. She has nothing in common at all with Edward Cullen who has a job or two or three of his own. Except Maggie, the niece they share, who's dubbed him the funcle because he's like a dad – but cooler. It isn't a meet cute when you've known each other a decade, and it turns out Maggie isn't the only Swan girl over the moon for the funcle.


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